…And what about the books LifeWay offers on Contemplative Spirituality, aka, Spiritual Formation, from Emerging Church authors and leaders, many of whom reject absolute truth, downplay doctrine and encourage their readers to incorporate mantras and mysticism into their Christian walk?

Proctor asks the rhetorical question, "Does he (Thom Rainer) honestly think the Lord Jesus wouldn’t pull out a whip and start turning over tables if He walked into one of LifeWay ecclesiastical emporiums today?"

You can't have an organization without values, and where do those values come from? Our religious traditions...what ever those traditions are...

Here's Rick Warren at an interview from the Exponential Conference, sharing what he calls "the secret of church growth", as he employs a childhood method of simulating the sound of passing gas ( even after being advised the tape was rolling ).

Warren then announced he was to meet with McCarrick and a group of Roman Catholic leaders at Georgetown University to discuss Warren's PEACE plan.

The smell of global ecumenism is in the air, compliments of America's pastor.

Some 15,000 worshippers gathered yesterday at the shrine of the Roman Catholic saint and mystic Padre Pio, as his exhumed body went on display for the first time since his death almost 40 years ago.

More than a million people are expected to file past a transparent casket holding his restored corpse between now and September 2009. Catholic practice allows for the remains of saints to be exhumed, checked for their state of deterioration and exhibited as relics for veneration.Padre Pio’s body is unusually central to the cult that surrounds him, and exceptionally controversial. For believers the visible evidence of his sanctity was the stigmata - the wounds of Jesus on the cross - that first appeared in 1910.

The article reports that " Padre Pio’s face was covered with a lifelike silicone mask of the type used in wax museums."

Editor’s note: Necromancy (attempting or communicating with the dead) is forbidden in the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church acknowledges this fact, however there is a loophole in the RCC doctrine:

The Church does not deny that, with a special permission of God, the souls of the departed may appear to the living, and even manifest things unknown to the latter…necromancy is held by theologians to be due to the agency of evil spirits, for the means taken are inadequate to produce the expected results.

This timely news piece highlights another facet of Roman Catholic mysticism…the same spirituality that the purpose driven, seeker sensitive and the emergents promote as benign.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

..."Two-thirds of all churches in America are plateaued and declining," said Pastor Rick Warren after speaking Thursday to thousands of church planters at the Exponential Conference in Orlando, "and if it weren't for the growth that's taking place in church plants and megachurches, Christianity would be declining."

The conference guest speakers certainly paint a picture of American Evangelicalism today.If the Neo-liberalism of the Emergents and pragmatism of the Purpose Driven are the only reason U.S. Christianity is viewed as "alive", one can rest assured it's D.O.A.-Dead On Apostasy.

Watch this video from the conference and listen to the Rick Waren interview which includes:

conversation about vulgar hand gestures

Rick Warren engaging in distinctly immature humor

Warren's process and performance-driven religious system for manufacturing spiritual maturity

"If all goes according to plan, on or about May 7, a group of evangelical leaders -- including the Rev. Rick Warren (of Saddleback Church and "Purpose Driven Life" fame) and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals -- will publish a document to be called "An Evangelical Manifesto: The Washington Declaration of Identity and Public Commitment...in addition to Warren and Anderson, theologians Timothy George and Richard Mouw have been a part of the drafting process. Jesse Miranda, Richard Ohman, and John Huffman also reportedly had a hand.""...There is an unseemly power struggle going on in the evangelical world these days. It is a struggle for leadership and dominance, for the right to be the unofficial spokesperson for evangelicals. The "religious left" has put forth men such as Jim Wallis. Rick Warren has had everyone from Bono to Barack Obama in his pulpit to help him assert his claim. The Emergent Church is putting forth Tony Jones and Brian McLaren, among others. And, of course, there are the "traditional" leaders of the so-called "religious right," including Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins, Chuck Colson, and James Dobson. This unfortunate and unseemly power struggle should not be ignored in evaluating this "Manifesto." The list of people who have not been asked to sign it, or who have chosen not to, is as revealing as the list of those who have, or will. Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins both told me they had not seen the "Manifesto." Tom Minnery, executive vice president of Focus on the Family and the organization's "point person" on public policy issues said neither he nor James Dobson has signed the document..."

(Washington, D.C., April 22, 2008) -- At the end of last night's segment on CNN regarding former President Jimmy Carter's recent meetings with senior Hamas leaders, Glenn Beck asked me whether there was any Biblically prophetic significance to the meeting. It was an important question (and one not usually asked on CNN). While I only had 30 seconds to answer it, allow me to raise a few points.

First, Hamas's offer of a 10 year peace deal with Israel is a new and startling development. This the first time in history that one of Israel's primary enemies has suggested forging not a comprehensive peace deal in perpetuity, but a peace treaty of a short and specific time frame.

Second, this time-limited peace offer by Hamas is fascinating in that it is completely consistent with Bible prophecy about the last days. In Daniel 9:27, the ancient Hebrew prophet tells us that in the End of Days, an evil leader will make a comprehensive peace deal or covenant with Israel and her many neighbors and enemies. That deal will seem "firm," says Daniel, but it will not be forever. It will be for 7 years. According to the Book of Daniel and Revelation, Israel will accept the deal (fatally flawed though it is), but the evil leader will break the deal after 3 1/2 years, invade Israel, set up a global empire, and eventually trigger the War of Armageddon. Let me be clear: while Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al is without question an evil leader who seeks nothing less that the liberation of Jerusalem for radical Islam and the liquidation of all Jews and Christians in the Holy Land, I am not saying he is the evil leader of which Daniel writes. But Mash'al's proposal has now injected something new and Biblically significant into the Middle East peace process equation -- the element of a time-limited deal. Very interesting.

Third, in my new political thriller, Dead Heat, I write about this exact scenario of a time-limited peace deal between Israel and her enemies.

Fourth, watch carefully to see if this concept of a time-limited Arab-Israeli peace deal gains traction. I wrote about a fictional deal like this in Dead Heat because it seemed like a plausible geopolitical scenario to get us to the Biblical prophecy of a 7-year Middle East peace deal. But until this week, no one in real life had ever talked seriously about a limited time frame for a peace deal with Israel.

When the counsel of God Almighty is exchanged in whole or in part for utilitarian political agendas, false temporal “peace”- so called -, or ecumenical unity you can rest assured that the judgment of God will quickly follow.

...The leaven of Rome has crept into the American evangelical church through heresy mongers such as Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Rob Bell and many, many others. Unfortunately the church is ripe for these ravening wolves who seek to rend the flock because of its weak-kneed effeminate leadership.

Where are the Davids who will oppose the spiritual Goliaths that threaten the Lord’s little flock?

Where are the Elijas who will stand boldly before wicked Ahab and proclaim the Word of God?

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”

Monday, April 21, 2008

Today's popular Evangelicalism weaves a tangled web of deception and diversion. From Rick Warren to Rob Bell, a "Christianized" version of man-centered religion emerges, with roots that go as deep as the Garden of Eden.

My intention in this article is to once again focus attention on the sappy caricature of a god, which has now been developed by the spiritually spineless leadership within synergistic and semipelagian postevangelcialism. It can easily be traced to the disastrous effect of Norman Vincent Peale and his pallid protégé Robert Schuller, Satan’s own twin towers of sentimental selfishness masquerading as self-esteem, which has all but crippled the Christian Church in America with their psychobabble philoso-theology centered on the love of self (see—2 Timothy 3:2).

“Hey look, God Is Just Like Me!”

What has been happening is that postevangelicalism and its Emerging Church have been successful in creating a god who is just like us and even thinks like us. Well, how convenient for the leadership of the ECoD, now we can be friends with all the other religions and never have to endure any conflict with the world. They think: “After all, since I’d never want anyone to come into conflict with me and I want to be friends with everyone, why that’s how God must be.” A good example of 1 John 4:5 — They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

Church members across America will hear sermons this Sunday on climate change on Earth Day Sunday, which is celebrated in houses of worship on the weekend closest to Earth Day on April 22.

Each year the National Council of Churches' Eco-Justice Working Group focuses on a particular environmental theme and highlights a number of ways individuals and congregations can celebrate and protect God's creation. This year's emphasis is on the link between global warming and poverty.

For the first time, representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated in a papal prayer service -- and it all started over coffee. In an interview with Catholic News Service and other reporters before the start of the ecumenical prayer service at St. Joseph's Church in New York April 18, Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interrreligious Affairs, said that during a coffee break at a recent meeting a representative of the Latter-day Saints asked him if there was any possibility of their participation in the papal visit.

The feasts of Israel have both historical and prophetic fulfillments. Today being Passover we'll take a look at the world's oldest continuously celebrated Holy Day from these two perspectives.

First, here's the background. God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham. But before Abraham could actually take possession, the Canaanite people still had 400 years to decide if they were going to repent of their pagan ways and return to God. He already knew they weren't going to decide in His favor but was committed to give them the 400 years anyway. So it would actually be Abraham's descendants who would take possession of the land. In the interim, God said, they would migrate to Egypt and become enslaved there. When the 400 years were up, God would bring them back to give them the land and would give them the wealth of Egypt as well, to compensate them for their time of slavery. (Genesis 15) To make sure there was no confusion about this, God repeated His promise to both Isaac and Jacob, Abraham's son and grandson...

We are brothers in Christ united in one great cause – to stand together for the Gospel. We are convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among many who claim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness.

We affirm that truth ever remains a central issue for the Church, and that the church must resist the allure of pragmatism and postmodern conceptions of truth We affirm the centrality of expository preaching in the church and the urgent need for a recovery of biblical exposition and the public reading of Scripture in worship...Read the complete document here.

Friends, fans and bearers of doctrine and theology got together this past week to confront the many skewed representations of the Gospel they've seen even among evangelicals and to reaffirm the centrality of doctrine in a postmodern era.

"We live and minister in an anti-doctrinal age or at least an age that thinks that it's anti-doctrinal. We live and minister in an age which is anti-theological or at least it claims it's anti-theological," said Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III, senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss., during the T4G (Together for the Gospel) conference, which concluded Thursday.

"And so we need to look to the Scriptures to learn how doctrine ... is essential for faithful pastoral ministry if we are going to effectively respond to the anti-doctrinal, anti-theological spirit of the age," he added.

The April 15-17 conference in Louisville, Ky., was the second time well-known and respected theologians came together to encourage thousands of other pastors to stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ at a time when more people are rejecting absolute truth...

...T4G began with Dever, Duncan, C. J. Mahaney, who leads Sovereign Grace Ministries, and Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They hold a conference every two years to encourage pastors to "stand together for the Gospel." MacArthur and John Piper, senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., are among other friends who were invited to speak at this year's event.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Most people are not aware that the Roman Catholic Church headed by the pope has an agenda to win the world to the Roman Catholic Jesus (the Eucharistic Christ). The Eucharistic Christ, is different from the historical Jesus in that the Roman Catholic Jesus requires a Roman Catholic priest to formulate “his” presence through the “mystery” of transubstantiation. This “Jesus” (a wafer) is then offered at mass as the Sacrament of the Eucharist (called an unbloody sacrifice). The Eucharistic Christ is also found on the altar in many Catholic churches and worshiped and adored in what is termed Eucharistic adoration.

In the article beneath, the pope uses ecumenical speak when he states the following:

I have come to repeat the Apostle's urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country.

While statements like this seem to impress leaders like Pat Robertson as well as other “evangelical Protestants,” that Roman Catholicism has relaxed the view that the Roman Catholic Church is the one and only true church, another statement in the same article indicates otherwise. While the word evangelization is used in the title of the article, this is not accurate. The term that should have been used is the “new evangelization.” In fact, later in the same article, we read that the pope actually used this term:

Those who have “taken up the challenge of the Second Vatican Council, so often reiterated by Pope John Paul II, and committed their lives to the new evangelization” also received the encouragement of the Pope.

The goal of Eucharistic adoration is to win the “separated brethren” and eventually all religions to the Roman Catholic Church in order to set up the kingdom of God here on earth.

The twin blasts, just hours before the Jewish Passover holiday, wounded 13 Israeli soldiers in what Hamas said was an attempt to break the nearly yearlong blockade of the territory. Four Hamas assailants died, Israeli officials said.Meanwhile, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with senior Hamas leaders in Damascus, Syria, for a second day to hear their views, defying U.S. and Israeli warnings that doing so would grant the group legitimacy. The U.S. and Israel have labeled Hamas a terrorist organization.

One week ago today, my colleagues and I were holding our inaugural Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem, discussing the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 which foretell the rise of a dictator in Russia who forms strategic alliances in the "last days" not only with Iran but also with Libya. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin is actually in Libya, the first Russian leader in history to visit the North African country, creating a strategic alliance, signing numerous agreements, and negotiating a $2.5 billion arms sale to this enormous and historic enemy of Israel...."Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi hailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's official visit as 'historic and strategic' during a state dinner at the Bab Azizia palace," reported Agence France Presse...."'This is the first visit by a Russian president to Libya. It is a historic, strategic and very important visit,' Kadhafi said in a speech....'The trip will enable increased cooperation, given that we are both producers of gas and oil,' Kadhafi said. (Photo credit Int'l Herald tribune)

Most people with any common sense and compassion want to see a planet without poverty, disease, and illiteracy. I thank God for all the organizations working to help the suffering, the sick, and the poor. Jesus made it very clear that we are to care for and reach out to those in need. However, working to bring about utopia on earth through global and religious unity is futile. My saying this might make some people angry, and they may accuse me of being fatalistic.

But nowhere in Scripture is the notion supported that there will be a kingdom without tears, pain, poverty, and suffering until Jesus Christ physically returns and establishes it Himself. A question needs to be considered: Can those who don't know the King establish the kingdom of God?Rick Warren believes that God has shown him not only the boundaries (or lack of them) of this coming global kingdom, but also the strategy to bring it about. Before Warren came up with the plan, he says he asked Jesus to show him how to reach the world...

The participation of emergent church leaders in an interfaith dialogue raised flags for some conservative Christians who have been concerned over a growing cooperation of emergent church leaders with New Spirituality/New Age leaders.

Prior to Tuesday's InterSpirituality Day panel discussions, hosted by Seeds of Compassion, Christian talk show host Ingrid Schlueter of Crosstalk Radio warned the public that emergent leaders Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church and Doug Pagitt of Solomon's Porch would promote universalism.

The panel included various Christian leaders, a Muslim scholar, a Sikh, and the Dalai Lama, among others, who spoke on compassion and spirituality.Held in one of the most unchurched cities in the country – Seattle – the dialogue drew over 7,000 people who heard the diverse panel speak about nurturing compassion in a religiously pluralistic world.

Marsha West gives us a good overview of the postliberal cult of the Emerging Church, which at its heart is really a spiritual version of what we went through:

In the Sixties [where] the counterculture rejected consumerism, individualism, traditional values and ideas, and protested against their parent’s middle class values. Thus began an all out assault on what had made America prosperous for two centuries.

Now a similar assault on historic orthodox Christianity is underway that’s gaining momentum. Some Christians believe a paradigm shift is taking place in the Church and as a consequence “everything must change.” This is anything but good news for Christendom, my friends…

There is a growing movement afoot in the postmodern Church that does not abide in God’s Word; hence they do not know the truth. The movement calls itself “Emergent” or “Emerging Church” (ECM) and it’s emerging away from orthodox Christianity, spreading its spiritual cancer throughout the globe. ECM change agents have made inroads into evangelicalism, big time. What they preach is a counterfeit social gospel…

As Pope Benedict XVI continues with his highly publicized visit to the United States, some may wonder what the major differences are between Catholicism and Protestantism – the two main Christian bodies in the world.

Perhaps the biggest difference is their views on the sufficiency and authority of Scripture. Traditionally, Protestants believe that the Bible alone is sufficient in teaching man all that is necessary for salvation from sin, and contains the standard in which Christians should measure their behavior.

Catholics, however, do not believe that the Bible alone is enough, and instead hold that the Bible and sacred Roman Catholic traditions are equal in authority, as noted by Got Questions Ministries, which provides biblically-based answers on spiritually-related questions in its Web site, GotQuestions.org…

From Christian Research NetworkCurrently there is a battle raging in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod between the faithful confessional Lutherans and a new breed of seeker sensitive, purpose-driven church growth insurgents. This is a battle that we should keep an eye on.

This week the faithful confessional Lutherans in the LCMS posted a new 95 Theses that draws a hard line in the sand regarding the false teaching and false methods of Purpose-Drivenism.There is much that non-Lutherans can learn from this document. It is worth reading and passing along. Here are just some highlights.

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” He willed that the whole life of believers should be one of repentance.2. To “repent” means to be contrite for one’s sins and to trust Jesus Christ and solely in His completed work for one’s forgiveness, life, and salvation.3. Those who describe the Christian life as purpose-driven deny true repentance, confuse the Law and the Gospel, and obscure the merits of Christ.4. Impious and wicked are the methods of those who substitute self-help and pop-psychology for the Gospel in the name of relevance.5. This impious disregard for the Gospel wickedly transforms sacred Scripture into a guidebook for living, a pharisaic sourcebook of principles, and sows tares among the wheat.6. Relevance, self-help and pop-psychology have no power to work true contrition over sins and faith in Jesus Christ.7. Like clouds without rain, purpose-driven preachers withhold the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the cross and enslave men’s consciences to the law which they cleverly disguise as so-called ‘Biblical Principles’.8. By teaching tips for attaining perfect health, debt-free wealth, and better sex in marriage, the purveyors of relevance undermine true fear, love and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.9. They are enemies of Christ, who distort the Word of God by tearing verses from their original context in order to use them as proof texts for their self-help, pop-psychology agendas.10. Injury is done the Word of God when it is used as a source book for practical, relevant “life applications.”22. The church is holy sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.23. How can sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd when false shepherds preach self-help and pop-psychology?24. Purveyors of purpose-driven relevance are not shepherds of men’s souls but wolves in sheep’s clothing.25. Purveyors of relevance claim that self-help, life-applications and biblical principles are the means to reach the unchurched because they meet people’s felt needs.26. Yet a person’s greatest need is one he does not by nature feel, namely the need for the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ.89. The church belongs to no man but to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and Lord of the church.90. Woe to the false prophets who cry, “Unity, unity” when there is no unity.91. Again, woe to those who say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.92. Again, woe to those who say, “Gospel, gospel,” when there is no Gospel.

Really; then they need to seriously consider what will follow from White’s book Serious Times (ST). For those who don’t know:

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry which explores the intersection of faith and culture; and professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president. (Online source)

“Do you seriously wish to travel the road to devotion?” asked [Roman Catholic mystic] Frances de Sales. “If so, look for a good man to guide and lead you. This is the most important of all words of advice.” Many words have been used to describe life-on-life instruction: discipling, mentoring, coaching. The more time-honored description, and the one that points to the most compelling of the relational practices, is spiritual direction. (88,89)

We’ll come back to Francis de Sales, but first let’s fill you in a bit more about the supposed “time-honored” and “compelling” practice of “spiritual direction.” And we’ll let Thomas Merton, who White tells us possessed a “catalog of wisdom” (85), do the honors. After all, Merton was a Roman Catholic trappist monk who devoted his entire life to the practice of Gnostic neo-pagan contemplative mysticism..."Read the rest here at Apprising Ministries.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

By EDITH M. LEDERER – APUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council called Tuesday for the disarming of Hezbollah and other militias in Lebanon along with greater progress toward a cease-fire and a solution to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.A statement adopted by consensus by the 15-member council reiterates its commitment "to the full implementation of all provisions of Resolution 1701" which ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in August 2006.

Deputy commander-in-chief Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was echoing Iran's late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who said Israel should be wiped off the map.

Some analysts have speculated that Israel might attack Iran to stop its nuclear activities, which the West fears are a front for weapons development. Iran, which does not recognize Israel, insists it wants nuclear technology only for electricity.

American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to their household budgets as food prices rise at the fastest rate in a decade...

...Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in the past year have led to sticker shock for most people in the grocery aisles.

Ground beef, milk, chicken, apples, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee and orange juice are among the staples that cost more these days, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports overall food prices rose nearly five percent last year. That means a carton of Grade A, large eggs will set you back $2.17. That's an increase of nearly a one dollar since February of 2006. Milk prices have also increased 26 percent.

BOGOTA, April 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of Colombians were evacuated around the Nevado del Huila volcano in the southwest part of the country on Tuesday after an eruption of ash and gas that caused no damage, but put authorities on high alert."Constant monitoring of the situation will be maintained," said a statement from Colombia's Interior Ministry.The volcano, in the province of Huila, is not located near any major coffee plantations integral to the economy of this part of the Andean country.Nevado del Huila erupted at the start of 2007 after laying dormant for hundreds of years. A 1985 eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Caldas province triggered mudslides killing 25,000 people in Colombia's worst natural disaster.(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Eric Beech)

From Herescope: Tony Blair has just embarked upon a project to further the cause of global governance, and he is intending to use religion as the vehicle. Called the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, its purpose is to create momentum for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals...

A variety of news sources highlight the Pope's ecumenical agenda for his U.S. visit...

From Spero News: A whole array of Christian faiths will be represented at an ecumenical service to be held with Pope Benedict at St. Joseph's parish in New York City.

...The United States Conference of Catholic Bishop has been in ecumenical dialogue with Christian churches and communities for decades and has embarked with them on many ventures. One of the most recent is establishment of the Christian Churches Together in the USA. Members include Catholics, Orthodox, mainline Protestants, Evangelicals and Pentecostals. For the first time in U.S. history there is a structure to enable the great majority of Christians in the United States to speak together with a common voice on the issues that face both church and society.

I hate those who regard vain idols, But I trust in the LORD. (Psalm 31:6, NASB)

If It Reads Like Mysticism, And If It Uses Mystic Practices, It’s Mysticism

Senior Pastor at Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, James Emery White, was one of the speakers at the NCP. AM is glad that Luppachino took the time to bring out something which is very important as we watch seeker sensitive postevangelcialism continue turning its back on the Reformation to re-embrace apostate Roman Catholicism along with its Church Growth Movement counterpart, the postliberal cult of the Emergent Church. Luppachino has quite correctly drawn attention to White, formerly president at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary—itself a financial supporter of Emergent Village—promoting a reintroduction into the Body of Christ of Roman Catholic so-called “Christian” mysticism, which is also known as “spiritual formation.” And this White is clearly doing in a column at Pastors.com—Ministry Toolbox—of Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren called Pastors need solitude, refreshment to prepare for ministry.

As one who has closely investigated the Mystic Monk Thomas Merton I can tell you that I was astonished to see White write...

This series of articles on the Compromised Church has been very painful for me to put together and write. There is no joy in delivering this type of message to people who consider themselves to be the religious leaders of their day, but who are deceived into a form of Christianity that is man-focused and non-Biblical. Why? This message is not just a rebuke, but it is a proclamation of coming judgment upon those who have perverted what is Holy and used their influence and ambition to confuse, harm and scatter the flock.

"Christianizing" mantras by repeating a word out of the Bible does not make the practice of mysticism Biblical. It does not make the practice any less dangerous. Here's just one example of where it brings the unsuspecting participant...

"...the mind is able to relax and follow its tone and in so doing enables you - the meditator - to arrive easily into the deepest realm of pure cosmic awareness. This mantra is like a vehicle that carries the mind to its Source - silent, deep, peaceful, eternal Mind.It is our hope that the gift of this meditation technique will enable many to attain the state of perfect inner peace and enlightenment and from that state of consciousness join together to create the long awaited time of Universal Peace!" - Nexus of Science /Spirituality/ and PoliticsEditor's note: Promise of enlightment, perfect inner peace, higher state of consciousness? Sounds like what the Serpent offered to Eve, to be as God, in rebellion against God.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, 7and he said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, 8by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. 9Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

10"As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. 11And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. 12This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

A top United Nations official has warned that rising food prices could cause worldwide turmoil and global political instability.

Food price rises of more than 40 per cent in the last 12 months have helped spark riots and unrest in countries like Egypt, Haiti and Uzbekistan.

On Monday there were food riots in Haiti and there have been violent protests in Ivory Coast. Riots after price rises in Cameroon in February left 40 people dead. (AFP: Thony Belizaire)

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”—Mark 13:8

In this special repeat broadcast, Mike Corley talks with Ray Rungen, author of the book A Time of Departing.

They discussing such issues as centering prayer, the silence, yoga, Reiki, the Desert Fathers and spiritual formation teachings, and the influence of these new age teachings in the contemporary church.

Jan and guest Pastor Ken Silva discuss the Dalai Lama visit to Seattle and the participation of two Emergent leaders, Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt. The event, "Seeds of Compassion," is sinister manipulation of children. They also discuss "Red Letter Christians." The two most visible in that movement are Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis, both promoting their own brand of Socialism rather than the Bible. www.apprising.org.

A few of the headliners from the seeker sensitive / purpose driven camp include Rick Warren, Chuck Colson, Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington, D.C and James Emery White of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, N.C.

James Emery White has authored several books on prayer and spirituality. In his book, Rethinking the Church: A Challenge to Creative Redesign in an Age of Transition, White promotes the emergent perspective of how the church must rethink it's foundational purposes in light of the changing realities of our world. White uses illustrations from the business world to highlight that an organization must change to stay in business.

White writes: "To understand our purpose, we must understand what business we are in..." White also references Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Church, and how to focus on Warren's five purposes of the church.

No surprise that Rick Warren and Bill Hybels lent their endorsements on the back cover. No surprise that James Emery White was a featured columnist at Warren's Pastor.com Ministry Tool Box. White speaks to the pastor's need for solitude, refreshment to prepare for ministry. He begins his article by paying homage to the Catholic mystic, Thomas Merton and the Desert Fathers:

In his catalog of wisdom from the desert fathers of the fourth century, Thomas Merton tells of a certain brother who went to Abbot Moses in Scete and asked him for a good word. The elder said to him, "Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."

"The power of silence and solitude has been recognized throughout the history of spiritual formation. It is the purposeful separation of ourselves from the world in order to place ourselves with God. The evil one assaults our senses with the material world to drown out the distant chords of eternity's symphony. Only in silence can we move past the deafening roar of the world and hear the music of God...The rule of (Roman Catholic) St. Benedict speaks of cultivating silence in our lives."

Best Selling Christian/New Age Author Leonard Sweet will be speaking for Rick Warren’s church this April of 2008. For those of you who did not think Rick Warren was part of the Emergent Church movement, time to think again. Leonard Sweet is an Emergent Church, New Age, New Spirituality as you can get. In his book, Quantum Spirituality, Sweet states:

"The power of small groups is in their ability to develop the discipline to get people "in-phase" with the Christ consciousness and connected with one another."

Here are some more quotes from Leonard Sweets Book Quantum Spirituality:

“Austrian/American physicist Wolfgang Pauli perceived, are the traceable connections that exist between ourselves and others or objects, and the underlying holism of the uni-verse. Transcendent state of consciousness” (Quantum Spirituality p.234)

“New Light embodiment means to be “in connection” and “in-formation” with other Christians…The church is fundamentally one being, one person, a communion whose cells are connected to one another within the information network called the Christ consciousness” (Quantum Spirituality, p. 122).

“Postmodern missions must have a geomantic imagination and geomantic design. What I am calling a geomantic style of evangelization will ensure harmonious habitation patterns as the gospel interconnects and interacts with all life-and landforms. (Quantum Spirituality, p.168)

Read some quotes from Oprah and her New Age Movement friends and compare them to what Leonard Sweet is saying. No difference. Yet, Rick Warren has put his stamp of approval on Leonard’s worldview by having him as a keynote speaker at his church.

People can not say we did not warn them about Rick and his friends several years ago.

...There can be no greater proliferation of the anti-christ doctrine than belief systems which teach everybody's a christ. Among a host of others, Eckhart Tolle, bestselling author whose writings Oprah Winfrey highly recommends, teaches that all humanity is indwelt by an immanent christ-spirit.[1] He has stated, "Jesus speaks of the innermost I am, the essence identity of every man and woman . . . Some Christian mystics have called it the Christ within . . ."[2]

In an earlier writing, he also stated: "In you, as in each human being, there is a consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. . . . it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature."[3] Statements like Tolle's are all over the Internet. Everybody's a christ--they just haven't realized it. To experience "christness," New Age prophets tell us that a shift in consciousness is needed. So we ask, what would Jesus think (WWJT) about such teaching? Before attending to "WWJT," we should know something of the overall New Testament presentation of Christ.

New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet, who will be training church leaders and pastors at the 2008 Saddleback Small Groups Conference in April, is accepted by Rick Warren as a trustworthy source of Christian leadership. However, Sweet's view of the value of small groups lines up more with the New Age and Alice Bailey than it does with biblical Christianity. In his book, Quantum Spirituality, Sweet states:

"The power of small groups is in their ability to develop the discipline to get people "in-phase" with the Christ consciousness and connected with one another."

What Sweet means by "Christ consciousness" can be determined through his book, Quantum Spirituality. For instance, in the Acknowledgements pages Sweet thanks the "New Light leaders" whom he has followed in his spiritual journey. He names interspiritualists/universalists such as Matthew Fox (author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ), Episcopalian priest/mystic Morton Kelsey, Willis Harman (author of Global Mind Change) and Ken Wilber (one of the major intellectuals in the New Age movement).

In the Preface of Sweet's book (p. 3), he (referring to other New Agers such as Gary Zukav) says: "Unfortunately, little of this literature is known or celebrated in the religious community." Zukav's book, The Seat of the Soul, teaches people how to get in touch with their spirit guides.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Tony Blair creates the European version of Rick Warren's PEACE plan...

In his first major speech on religion, Tony Blair said Thursday night that religion must be rescued from extremism and irrelevance and used as a force for good at a time of global turmoil...

...Blair declared his strong desire to “awaken the world’s conscience” to widespread poverty, illiteracy and poor health, and said that the Tony Blair Faith Foundation would set the Millennium Development Goals as one of its priority areas for engagement when it launches next month.

"...faith is not in decline...it is thriving. In an era of globalization...when the world is opening up...in this New World...how religious faith develops will have a profound impact...""...If people of faith reach out to one and another, learn to coexist, believing and respecting each other, they can play an important part...to have a powerful interfaith encounter because such an encounter symbolizes a world of coexistence and not exclusion...""What values will this daunting New World use to guide it? Since religious faith has such a historic influence on both the East and the West. It can help unify around common values..."

According to British media, the US is set to attack Iranian military facilities. DEBKAfile’s military sources add that the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Force is heading for the Persian Gulf. War tensions in the Middle East have shot up - not only over the signals flashing between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, but also on the US-Iranian front in Iraq in the wake of rising in violence around the Basra conflagration.

Tuesday, April 8, US Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus and ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, will stress in their report to Congress that Iran is waging war on America in Iraq, say sources in Washington, London and Baghdad. This emerged strongly last week, when US intelligence learned that Iran had intervened directly in the Iraqi government’s crackdown on renegade militias in Basra and southern Iraq, by directing and provisioning those militias through the Revolutionary Guards’ al Qods Brigades.

From Christian Research Network: In this piece we draw together for you assorted resources concerning the New Age theology of Oprah Winfrey. This is not an endorsement of the ministry who produced the piece referenced below; however, their article The Gospel According to Oprah will prove helpful for those wanting to know the truth about what this professing Christian believes and is teaching millions of her followers:

Dr. Dennis L. Cuddy presents a compelling overview of the new spirituality and globalism revealing:

how deconstructing traditonal religious beliefs accomplishes the goal of changing people’s values toward a synthesized belief system for global unity.

Rick Warren's Purpose Driven and Brian McLaren's Emerging church movement promote marginalizing those who hold fundamental or traditional religious beliefs for the greater good of the faith community.

those "fundamentalists" who resist the transformation of consciousness necessary for global unity are viewed with mental illness.

Dr. Cuddy reveals how the promoters of the new spirituality are truly pawns of the globalists agenda...

The power elite considers Warren, McLaren, Tolle and others like them useful for their purposes, which includes ostracizing orthodox religious believers whether Christian or Jewish. In the Middle East, for example, using the Delphi Technique, orthodox Jews are portrayed as recalcitrants, unwilling to compromise in order to obtain peace. Simultaneously, a dialectical process is used similar to Communism being used as an antithesis to Capitalism in order to achieve the synthesis (compromise) of a World Socialist Government.

(Editor's note: Corn prices jumped to a record $6 a bushel on Thursday.)(CNSNews.com) -

World Bank President Robert Zoellick says a global food crisis demands the immediate attention of world leaders."As financial markets have tumbled, food prices have soared," Zoellick said in a speech on Wednesday. He said the situation is not expected to get better any time soon -- and he is pushing what he calls a "new deal for global food policy."

"Since 2005, the prices of staples have jumped 80 percent," Zoellick said on Wednesday. "Last month, the real price of rice hit a 19-year high; the real price of wheat rose to a 28-year high and almost twice the average price of the last 25 years."

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Christians have not always been at their best when encountering serious believers from other religions, but Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard J. Mouw is a notable evangelical exception. In his sustained work across the Catholic-Protestant divide and in Fuller’s pioneering dialogues on Jewish- and Muslim-Christian relations, Mouw has modeled charity and clarity in the face of skepticism and even some vocal criticism. Thus, he is a valuable contributor to our 2008 Christian Vision Project conversation on the question, Is our gospel too small?

So how do people find unselfishness, humility, love and forgiveness, Rick? Can they do this sufficiently on their own, or do they need Jesus Christ? Not one word was spoken in the article about the Gospel, not one mention of the transforming power of Jesus Christ, just the usual explanation of the acrostic P.E.A.C.E. which includes nothing about evangelization. You can’t have strong families and strong churches without Jesus Christ, yet somehow He never gets a mention. Rwandan President Paul Kagame is very pleased to have Rick Warren on board to help his ailing country.Read the rest here.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

And so it is with the “New” Age/”New” Spirituality and Oprah Winfrey. Widely regarded as the “Queen” of the airwaves, Oprah has been deceived into seeing a “New” Age/”New” Spirituality “suit of clothes” that simply isn’t there. The Queen’s advisors – Eric Butterworth, Maya Angelou, Marianne Williamson, Gary Zukav, Neale Donald Walsch, Esther Hicks, Eckhart Tolle, and countless others -- have all been similarly deceived into seeing this “new” way of looking at themselves and the world. Deceived and deceiving, they in turn convinced the Queen that she and everyone in her kingdom just needed to “shift” past their “egos” and “awaken” to the fact that they were already clothed in “Christ” – that they were already wearing this “new” suit from the New Age/New Spirituality wardrobe. All they had to do was accept and affirm the “God” and “Christ” within.Read the rest of this alarming 4 part series at Herescope.See more on Oprah's false gospel here.

...Much more than only perverting the image of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit with a view to depriving people of a biblical basis of faith, spiritual deception is now specifically aimed at deconstructing the biblical image and attributes of Jesus Christ to make Him conformable to the image of the Antichrist. This other Jesus will arise from the kingdom of darkness but present himself as the true Jesus who has come to save, bless and empower humanity. Preparations are in an advanced stage to receive him as the global messiah of all faiths. The mounting evidence on the nature and extent of this movement is very compelling, as indicated below...

...A marriage between religion and politics. There is a very conspicuous movement in the world to ally religion and politics. This was common practice in the ancient world empires, where the emperors deified themselves and were not satisfied only with political allegiance but also demanded religious worship. The Antichrist will do the same. (Rev. 13:4,7,15). Modern political leaders increasingly mobilise their followers by means of a religious ideology to help change and improve the word. They either collaborate with religious leaders in the ecumenical movement or they pose as religious leaders themselves. This is all part of kingdom theology, in which political, business and religious leaders work closely together.

Rick Warren says that stability in any nation is dependent upon a strong and healthy government, a strong and healthy business sector, and strong and healthy churches. He likened it with a three-legged stool. With a view to promoting this view he travels to various countries to address government leaders, business leaders and church leaders to make them aware of their responsibility to work together in realising the objectives of stable, prosperous, and purpose driven nations. According to dominionists, that is the way in which the kingdom of God will be ushered in. Little do they realise that the next world empire will be that of the cosmic Christ. He will have a three-legged throne – as political leader, universal messiah, and head of the global economy.

In this other gospel which is preached by leaders of the emerging church, promoted by political leaders, supported by global business, and popularised by celebrities, there is no reference whatsoever to the coming of the true Jesus for His bridal congregation, the subsequent revelation of the Antichrist and the judgements of God upon a self-centred, sinful, materialistic and utterly wicked world. “When they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them” (1 Thess. 5:3).

The Israel Antiquities Authority announces the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period have been exposed so close to the Temple Mount – on the eastern slopes of the Upper City.

A rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries B.C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological rescue excavations near the Western Wall plaza. The dig is being carried out in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza, near the staircase leading up towards the Jaffa Gate.

"First they came for “resisters” and “pillars” of Brunswick Reformed Church, Brunswick, Ohio because they opposed Purpose Driven Life and Church, but I didn't speak up because I was not a member of Reformed Church of American (RCA) denomination.

Then they came after a lady who was an elder lady in the faith who had been with the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas since 1956 by shouting her down with spiritual euthanasia and aggressive mean-spirited behavior, and the intimidation of seven attorneys, because she opposed them turning their landmark Criswell Center into a Purpose Driven entertainment center. But I did not speak up because I was not a widow.

Then they held a trial for two families at Valley Baptist Church in Lakeland, Minnesota, but I didn't speak up because I was not a member of the General Baptist Convention.

Then they came after 165 members of Gardendale Baptist Church, Corpus Christi, Texas and ran them out of the church, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Southern Baptist.

Then a brother did finally speak up and tried to warn Eugene Christian Fellowship because they had gone Purpose Driven, but they threatened legal action and told him to stop spamming them. But I did not speak up for fear of being accused of spamming or being sued by a church.

Dedicated to the churches of Jesus Christ our Saviour in the 67 countries in which Rick Warren has tested his pilot PEACE plan in 2005, the 131 countries he has been working on for the last two years, to those who speak the 56 languages in which Purpose Driven Life has already been translated, and to rest of the nations throughout the uttermost parts of the earth that he has targeted to consummate the roll-out for his plan in 2006.

This is also dedicated to the tens of thousands of churches which have already been stolen by Rick Warren’s teachings and to the saints who were purpose-driven from those churches for opposing his teachings and covenants, many of whom now have no church; and to all of those pastors and church members still on the fence about Rick Warren’s teachings. We hope this will help alert you to the magnitude and scope of this religion and movement and sound an alarm to those Christians who have never heard of Rick Warren.

From the plight of purpose driven refugees to Rick Warren's goal of global expansion, James Sundquist documents the error of the Purpose Driven theology. Hardcopy also avaliable at Amazon.com

Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal. The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses.

It comes a month before MPs are to debate the future of such research.The Catholic Church describes it as "monstrous". But medical bodies and patient groups say such research is vital for our understanding of disease.

Those who have, by God’s grace, escaped the cults of Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses are well aware of how altering the words and meaning of God’s holy Word can lead followers into grievous error and away from God’s pure truth. The main focus of cults like these has always been to “retranslate” Scripture in such a way as to prove their heretical positions and deceive their followers...

...The question is: if we are going to hold cults like Mormonism to a biblical standard on this issue, then shouldn’t we hold our evangelical leaders to that same standard? Wouldn’t it be hypocritical to condemn Mormons for biblical chicanery and ignore evangelicals who do a similar disservice to the Bible?

Such is the reasoning for holding Rick Warren accountable for his hermeneutical methods in promoting his “Purpose Driven” teachings.

Is the gay agenda simply just another pawn in Rick Warren's global Purpose Driven PEACE Plan? As a Southern Baptist pastor, does Rick Warren sympathize with homosexuality or does he refute it?

Apparently, it depends on what country Rick Warren is promoting his Purpose Driven PEACE plan. Let's take a look at Rick Warren's geographically-driven position on homosexuality.

Rick Warren on homosexuality in Uganda:

Uganda: Gay Row -U.S. Pastor Supports Country On Boycott"The Church of England is wrong and I support the Church of Uganda(CoU) onthe boycott", Dr Warren said on Thursday shortly after arriving in Uganda.The Bishops are protesting the Church of England’s tolerance ahomosexuality.

"We can no longer afford in this particular day, when the press for 'gay marriage' is on, to be in an alliance of any kind with denominations which support 'gay marriage' in any form or fashion."Paige Patterson told messengers during the Executive Committee's report at SBC annual meeting.

In response, Rick Warren told reporters at the Baptist World Alliance’s Centenary Congress that the withdrawal of Southern Baptists from the BWA was a “silly” mistake. “I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody,” he declared. Noting he has theological differences with many of the diverse denominations that invite him to speak, Warren added, “That doesn't stop me from fellowshipping with them.”

2007: Rick Warren’s global AIDS conference refuses to address homosexuality and "gay" promiscuity as prime contributors to the spread of HIV. Warren fails to call those in the lifestyle to repent, and fails to lead them out with the Gospel.

It is noble that Rick Warren cares so much for the Africans living 10,000 miles away from his church who are infected with AIDS. It is tragic, though, that he and others like him have not spoken out forcefully against the holocaust of homosexuality and the dozens of bathhouses in California where so many men are getting sick and dying.- James Hartline

Rick Warren's geographically driven position on homosexuality no doubt will find acceptance where ever he plants his global Purpose Driven PEACE flag. As long as alternate lifestyle advocates ignore Warren's duplicity, the gay agenda will be just another purpose driven pawn in Warren's quest to build the global faith sector.